PITTSBURGH– The journey continues for Dru Joyce III and his Duquesne Dukes after a 67-61 win over Rhode Island on Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena. They will now face another Rams team, that being VCU.
How They Got Here
The Dukes defeated the Rhode Island Rams yesterday in a physical battle. They led by as much as 10 early in the second half, but the lead was cut to three very quickly after that. With 10:27 to go, Duquesne went on an 8-0 run to extend the lead to 56-45. That comfort was quickly thrown out the window when URI fought back to cut it to 5 again with 2:32 to go. Dave Dixon and Alex Williams cemented the finishing touches, as RJ Johnson turned it over to Dixon, leading to the run-out and finish from Williams.
Williams finished as the leading scorer for the Dukes with 22 points, followed closely behind Jimmie Williams with 17.
Tyler Cochran stole the show, however, as he dropped 34 on the Dukes, making nine three-pointers and keeping his team involved. Cochran battled foul trouble, and when he was out, Rhody struggled to score, allowing Duquesne to push further ahead in those moments.
The Fan Support
A lot of criticism has landed on the Duquesne students for their student section’s showing this season. On Thursday night, they responded. The crowd was massive and loud. That is something VCU will have to deal with tonight.
“First and foremost, a huge thank you to our students,” Joyce said postgame. “Not only the students. I believe we had faculty and administration show up, too. And just the city of Pittsburgh — I want to know what’s going on in that bookstore, because I’ve seen more red and blue than before, so I think the city of Pittsburgh is continuing to show up for us too.”
Joyce also hopes that tomorrow will be just as electric.
“It’s about happy hour time anyway, everybody should be getting off, and they show up again tomorrow with that same type of energy and support. And if they can boo, even better. I’ll accept that too.”
Today’s Battle
The #2-seeded VCU Rams are truly the team to beat on the bottom half of the bracket. They have earned that designation, as they are the regular-season co-champions alongside SLU. These teams have met once back on January 3, when VCU came away with a 93-80 win. Terrence Hill Jr. dropped 21 points for the Rams in the win, and Lazar Djokovic poured in 17. Those are two members of the A-10 All-Conference First Team, so the Dukes will need to find a way to slow them down.
As for the Dukes, they need to continue feeding off the crowd and try to replicate their one-turnover performance against Rhode Island. They also lost the rebounding battle to VCU in January. They must win it on Friday night.
Tip-off between Duquesne and VCU is set for 5 PM at PPG Paints Arena on Friday, and will be the third game of the day.